Wednesday, September 25, 2013

When Top Guns are out-awed

...a spokesman for the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots warned of the temptation to use them [unmanned F-16s] in warfare.

"I'm very concerned these could be used to target people on the ground," said Prof Noel Sharkey.

"I'm particularly worried about the high speed at which they can travel because they might not be able to distinguish their targets very clearly.

"There is every reason to believe that these so-called 'targets' could become a test bed for drone warfare, moving us closer and closer to automated killing."

Of course, 'smart bombs' are already minimizing collateral damage in warfare. Why those, flown by 'smart planes' would be worse is unexplained. That they would be safer for the pilots--sitting in an air-conditioned office thousands of miles from the mission--would be good, no?